I-Team: Nuclear reactor test in Nevada could make a Mars trip
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/...s/i-team-nuclear-reactor-test-in-nevada-could-make-a-mars-trip-reality

This story may sound like the plot of a science-fiction movie.

Next year, a team of top scientists will hunker down inside a classified facility
in the Nevada desert so they can experiment with a piece of advanced technology.

The test will focus on a small nuclear reactor and if it works as planned,
it could be a huge step toward putting humans on Mars.

In the hit movie, "The Martian," stranded astronaut Matt Damon has one heck of
a time surviving and getting around in the harsh environment of the red planet.

Scientists and engineers think that getting to Mars, and establishing a base,
will require a better power system than what was shown in the film.

Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg says current debates suggest need for new approach to comprehend reality
Why quantum mechanics might need an overhaul | Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/why-quantum-mechanics-might-need-overhaul

Steven Weinberg used to be happy with quantum mechanics as it is and didn’t worry about the debates.
But as he has thought about it over the years, the 83-year-old Nobel laureate has reassessed.

“Now I’m not so sure,” he declared October 30 in San Antonio at a session for science writers organized by the Council for
the Advancement of Science Writing. “I’m not as happy about quantum mechanics as I used to be, and not as dismissive of its critics.”

One reason Weinberg thinks there’s a need for a new chapter in the quantum story is that those who think everything is fine with
quantum mechanics take different sides in the debates about it.

“It’s a bad sign in particular that those physicists who are happy about quantum mechanics, and see nothing wrong with it, don’t
agree with each other about what it means,” Weinberg says.

Beijing continues to suffer from heavy smog on Sat, large number of flights cancelled.
via People's Daily, China

Studying how the first biomolecule self-replicated - Astrobiology Magazine
http://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/origin-life-studying-first-biomolecule-self-replicated/

It’s the ultimate chicken-or-egg conundrum: What was the “mother” molecule that led to the formation of life? And how did it replicate itself? One prominent
school of thought proposes that RNA is the answer to the first question. Now, in ACS Central Science, researchers in this camp demonstrate RNA has more
flexibility in how it recognizes itself than previously believed. The finding might change how we picture the first chemical steps towards replication and life.

NSF to Decide Fate of Arecibo by June 2017, Green Bank by Winter 2017-18
https://www.aip.org/fyi/2016/nsf-decide-fate-arecibo-june-2017-green-bank-winter-2017-18
NSF is currently undertaking a formal process by which it will determine whether or not to divest from the Arecibo
and Green Bank Observatories, with final decisions for each facility expected within the next year and a half.

http://www.forbes.com/...6/11/04/five-independent-signs-of-new-physics-in-the-universe/#618959dd8b6e
The Higgs boson has been created and observed to have a mass of 126 GeV/c2, branching and decaying in exactly the ratios the Standard Model predicts.
As it now stands, we’ve detected every particle and antiparticle predicted by the most successful particle physics theory of all time. Unless we get
hit by a big physics surprise, the LHC will become renowned for having found the Higgs Boson and nothing else fundamental. If these results hold,
there’s no window into what lies beyond the Standard Model coming from traditional experimental particle physics.

Pár hodin staré SETI Talks:
The History of the Martian South Polar Cap - Carver Bierson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSQ_exfk7GA

NASA's Cassini spacecraft watched clouds of methane moving across the far
northern regions of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on Oct. 29­­­­ and 30, 2016.
News | Watching Summer Clouds on Titan
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6670

Summer Clouds on Saturn's Moon Titan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0seT55Jk4Ko

Tsunami of Stars and Gas Produces Dazzling Eye-shaped Feature in Galaxy - NRAO: Revealing the Hidden Universe
https://public.nrao.edu/news/pressreleases/2016-alma-eyelid

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a tsunami of stars and gas that is crashing midway through the disk
of a spiral galaxy known as IC 2163. This colossal wave of material – which was triggered when IC 2163 recently sideswiped another spiral galaxy dubbed NGC 2207 –
produced dazzling arcs of intense star formation that resemble a pair of eyelids.

“Although galaxy collisions of this type are not uncommon, only a few galaxies with eye-like, or ocular, structures are known to exist,” said Michele Kaufman,
an astronomer formerly with The Ohio State University in Columbus and lead author on a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Scientists catalog nearly 100 dusty globules in the Crab Nebula
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-scientists-dusty-globules-crab-nebula.html

Researchers from Sweden have recently studied the presence of dust in the Crab Nebula to locate and characterize numerous dusty globules of this well-known supernova remnant.
As a result, they have cataloged 92 dusty globules and derived their properties. A paper describing the research was published Oct. 26 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

ESA Science & Technology: Mars' ionosphere shaped by crustal magnetic fields
http://sci.esa.int/mars-express/58554-mars-ionosphere-shaped-by-crustal-magnetic-fields/
Scattered pockets of magnetism across the surface of Mars have a significant influence on the planet's upper atmosphere,
according to observations from ESA's Mars Express. Understanding these effects may be crucial for ensuring safe radio
communications between Mars and Earth and, eventually, between explorers on the surface of the planet.

The Interplanetary Transport System: SpaceX's Plan to Build a Bridge to Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVcxz2q12AE

Kate Rubins’ Space Station Science Scrapbook
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/rubins_science_scrapbook